


What Can't You Do Now?

by meependa (Hawkbringer)



Category: Original Work
Genre: Alternate Universe - Military, Army, Gen, Military, POV Female Character, POV Second Person, Poetry, Rising through the ranks, Scents & Smells, Taking over the army, Women in the Military
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-20
Updated: 2018-12-20
Packaged: 2019-09-23 07:12:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 197
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17075759
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hawkbringer/pseuds/meependa
Summary: A young woman gets on the bus to join the army. Eventually, she comes to own the army. (Written in 2007. I don't usually write poetry, but this one was pretty good, so I decided to post it.)





	What Can't You Do Now?

**Author's Note:**

> An old poem I wrote about the army in 2007. Specifically how it is terribly smelly and lacks direction. I hate writing poetry, but this one is pretty good, so I'm putting it up here for exhibition purposes. 
> 
> Disclaimer: the 'Alternate Universe - Military' tag is accurate in that I was picturing a fantasy-Earth when I wrote this. No military IRL is the basis for this one.

Stench of bodies, pulling close  
Stench of seats, never washed  
Stench of shoes, without socks.  
Sweet stench of death-to-come,  
Sweet stench of fear.  
Euphoria is contagious now,  
Whooping for no reason now,  
Off the bus.

Standing on the desert,  
Heat burns thru shoes, rubber, metal, time,  
Spit in the ear. Never flinch. Turn.  
With one glance, they wither,  
Flowers in your desert's eyes.  
Fall. You will fall. They all do.  
What now, they ask,  
What do we do now?

Shrug. Lead on.  
Into the rooms.  
Stench here.  
Stench everywhere.  
You never left the bus.  
Fear. Excitement, but something missing.  
A feeling.  
In the air, in the head, in the toes.

The something missing,  
Everyone knows.  
Leadership, direction.  
Without it, all they do is respond to calls.  
Mechanical, methodical, unfeeling.  
Never worry. You're here now. 

Who let her in, they all ask.  
You barely respond, /Myself/.

You didn't listen to anybody,  
You spoke your mind.  
You stood up, seized control  
And it got you the army.  
Everyone's waiting  
For what you have to say.  
You have no words, but the meaning is not lost  
on them.

You have the army at your fingertips.  
What can't you do now?


End file.
